Albert b



(No Model.)

A. B. HALL. PILL COATING APPARATUS.

No. 596,297 Patented Dec. 28,1897.

INVENTOI? WITNESSES J 1 Mm Mm M M 2 rr $5 m ALBERT B. HALL, or INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

PILL-COATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION-forming part of Letters Patent No. 596,297, dated December 28, 1897. Application filed September 29, 1896. Serial No. 607,290. (No model.)

2" all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, ALBERT B. HALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at In dianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pill-Coating Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my said invention is to produce an inexpensive and easily and rapidly operated apparatus for coatingpills. Said apparatus consists, mainly, of a series of pill-holders having elastic grasping ends and suitable follow-boards whereby the pills are inserted and removed, as will be hereinafter more particulary described and claimed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof and on which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a set of my improved pill-holders. Fig. 2 is a detail sectional View of a fragment of a pillholder with a fragment of a hopper-board above the same, showing how the pills are introduced; Fig. 3, a similar View showing the pills being forced to place by means of a follow-board; Fig. 4:, a view showing the condition after one end of the pills has been coated and the same are being transferred to a sec ond set of the apparatus for the purpose of coating the other end of saidpills, and Fig. 5 a perspective detail View illustrating an alternative construction of the upper end of the pill-grasping device.

In said drawings the portions marked A represent the base of a pill-holder, B a hopperboard, and C a follower-board.

The pill-holder base A carries numerous pill-holding devices which are tubular in form or arrangement, and preferably consist of metal tubes a, within which are placed somewhat longer soft-rubber tubes at, which come in immediate contact with and grasp the pills and hold them during the dipping or coating operation. Any elastic material may of course be substituted for the particular tubes shown, it only being necessary to the carrying out of my invention that the pill-holding device shall grasp the pills with a yielding or spring pressure, and a number of spring-fingers disposed about the space into which the pill is to be inserted, as shown in Fig. 5, or various other arrangements which will readily occur to a skilled mechanic may be used with substantially the same effect as the device shown in the principal drawings. I, however, prefer the rubber tubes, both as being less expensive than most other forms and as having a softer and less destructive grasp on the pills.

The hopper-board B is an ordinary board containing perforations which are adapted to register with the ends of the pill-holding tubes. The upper ends of the perforations are reamed out into hopper form for convenience, while the lower ends are only suificient in size to permit the pills to pass through freely, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. In operation these hopper-boards are placed over the pillholders, being held to registry by the standards A, and a number of pills p are poured onto the hopper-boards and moved into the perforations, as shown, after which followboards 0 are placed thereon and by means of the followers 0 force the pills down to the position shown in Fig. 3. After the followboards and hopper-boards have been removed and the exposed ends of the pills dipped in the coating solution (usually gelatin) the pill-board carrying the pills is removed and the solution dried, after which they are transferred, as will be presently described, and the other ends coated.

The follow-boards O havelinger's or followers c. On some of these boards these fingers are of the proper length to extend up into the perforations or tubes or pill-holders to just that height so that when the pills are fed to the pill-holders and forced down by other of the follow-boards they will reach only the desired point and all be driven to a uniform position, as illustrated in the drawings, especially Figs. 3 and 4:. In Fig. 4: the operation of transferring the pills after being halfcoated from one pill-board to another is illustrated. The standards A bring the parts into registry. One follow-board is in place to support the pills and prevent them from being forced in too far, while the pill-holder, which has just been used, is shown with the tubes extending downwardly and the pills being forced therefrom into the ends of the lower pill-holding tubes by another followboard descending from above. The coated parts of the pills are thus inserted in the pillholding tubes and the exposed portions are dipped as before and permitted to dry, after which the pills are removed altogether and are ready for use.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. I11 a pill-coatin g apparatus, the combination, with a suitable base carrying pill-holders having grasping ends composed of elastic sheaths, of suitable means for placing the pills to be treated in said ends, and suitable means for removing the pills after being treated.

2. The combination, in a pill-coating apparatus, of a pill-holder consisting of a base provided with numerous tubes having pillgrasping ends, a hopper-board whereby the pills may be conveniently distributed to the several pill-grasping tubes, and a followboard by which the pills may be forced to the proper position in the ends of said pill-grasping tubes, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, in a pill-coating apparatus, of a pill-holder composed of a base and numerous pill-grasping tubes, a followboard the followers whereon are arranged to enter said tubes and are of sufficient length to extend nearly to the top thereof, and means for inserting pills in the upper ends of said pill-grasping tubes and forcing them therein until they come in contact with the ends of said followers, whereby uniformity of position. is secured, substantially as shown and described.

4c. The combination, in a pill-coating apparatus, of a pill-holder consisting of a base carrying pill-grasping tubes, standards or guides at suitable points on said base, a second structure carrying the pills to be coated and adapted to be mounted on said standards or guides, and a follow-board having suitable followers, whereby the pills are transferred from the last-named device to the pill-grasping tubes of the pill-holder, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, in apill-coating apparatus, of a suitable base carrying pill-holders having elastic grasping ends, suitable stopping followers, whereby pills, when introduced, are stopped at a predetermined point, and suitable followers whereby the pills may be ejected from said pill-holders after being treated.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 24th day of September, A. I). 1896.

ALBERT 1s. HALL. [n s] Witnesses:

CHESTER BRADFORD, JAMEs A. WALSH. 

